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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25344484">The sun will keep rising</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/heckingturtles/pseuds/heckingturtles'>heckingturtles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Booker is only mentioned in passing, Found Family, Gen, Immortality, Mentions of Death, Mentions of War, Post-Canon, andy and nile have like a mother/daughter relationship, but no one actually dies in this fic, nile is dealing with the whole new immortality thing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:27:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,063</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25344484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/heckingturtles/pseuds/heckingturtles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nile was still getting used to the immortal time frame. A month ago, with the threat of an early, military death breathing down her neck, she was expecting eighty, maybe ninety years if she was lucky. That kind of finality was gone. </p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>Nile is trying to come to terms with the whole immortality thing and Andy is trying to support her through that.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache of Scythia &amp; Nile Freeman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>101</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The sun will keep rising</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the first fic I've written in YEARS but this movie is consuming my life so I had too.<br/>I haven't read the comics yet, so this is just based on the movie.<br/>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nile was still getting used to the immortal time frame. A month ago — with the threat of an early, military death breathing down her neck — she was expecting eighty, maybe ninety years if she was lucky. Not a lot of time in the grand scheme of things, but enough. She would grow old, her family would grow old, and she’d tell stories of her youthful escapades from a rocking chair. Either that or she would die protecting her friends and she would be laid to rest with an American flag and a military send-off.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That kind of finality was gone. Now, the vast possibilities of the future — the collapse of civilizations, the infinite intertwined destinies of the billions of human lives that will begin and end during her existence — stretched out in front of her like a midwestern horizon: unending, but still with the ominous threat of </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> hiding in the shadows. They were immortal until they weren’t, until bullet wounds refused to mend. Watching Andy heal from hers the old fashioned way reminded Nile of that. She was living in a limited version of forever, and that made her head spin. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>For the next little while, they were holed up in a hotel in Nice, near the coast. Andy needed time — a human amount of time — to recover from her injuries, and the rest of them needed a second to come to terms with the new group dynamic. Booker was gone, Nile was new, Andy was mortal. There was a lot to get used to. They also needed to not be in London — there was only so much Copley could cover-up. Might as well make his job a bit easier by getting the Hell out of the country. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Nile leaned on the railing of the balcony, feeling the cool, sea-salt wind on her cheek. Everyone else was still asleep and the sun was barely peeking out over the water, dyeing everything it touched a soft gold. She took a breath. At least this still felt normal. Nile was sure it would lose its luster after a millennium, but for right now, the sunrise felt right. It felt like hope. It felt timeless, but in a comforting way. The sun rose and set, the waves crested and fell, all as natural as breathing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Coming to terms with her new life was proving to be harder than Nile expected. Now that her life wasn’t being directly threatened, the fear that gripped her when Andy picked her up from the base and whisked her away clawed its way back up her throat. It was like she had too much time and not enough: not enough time to have the wisdom that the rest of the group seemed to have, the kind that came from watching societies fall and build themselves back up from the ashes, and all too much time left to develop it. The cross around her neck caught the morning light, glittering against her neck. Nile bowed her head and leaned harder on the railing. That necklace felt crushing against her ribs, but she couldn’t bear to take it off. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It still feels infinite, you know.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span> Nile jumped, reaching for the pistol in her waistband before she recognized the figure beside her. Andy moved like a ghost sometimes. Nile had been caught up in her own thoughts, sure, but that didn’t explain how she hadn’t noticed Andy walk up beside her and lean against the same railing, even though its bars squeaked every time Nile so much as shifted her weight. Andy had clearly been addressing Nile, but she was looking straight forward towards the golden sky. Andy’s mind was clearly somewhere else. Somewhere in her memories. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A lot changes. Hell, almost everything does. But the sunrise never has,” Andy said, a small smile dancing on her lips. She wasn’t relaxed, per se — the thick layer of bandages under her shirt made sure of that — but she seemed content. Peaceful, even.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Nile turned to look out the way Andy was looking. The sky was warm and orange and seemed to move with the gentle rock of the waves below. It was calm, but Nile couldn’t shake the hollow feeling in her chest. Her parents and everyone she had ever known in the military thought she was dead. Killed in action. There was a gravestone somewhere with her name etched into it, with no body underneath. Would she end up there, someday? Or would the stone be cracked and broken and gone by the time she breathed her last breath?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She turned her head back to look at Andy. The soft sea breeze ruffled Andy’s hair and her skin was golden in the early light. This time, Andy met her gaze. There was always an intensity behind her eyes, but Nile had come to recognize the love in the softening of her features, in her steady determination, in the fact that Andy would do whatever it took to protect her family. In the fact that Nile was now part of that family.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span> With a sharp breath, Andy straightened and took her weight off of the railing. She still moved like she had all of the time in the world, like nothing had changed. Maybe after all this time, it didn’t matter if it had. Nile turned to face her, keeping just a hand on the cold metal. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’ll get easier, all of this. Just give it time,” Andy said, looking at Nile. She sounded so sure of herself, as if immortality hadn’t broken all of them in some way. Still, Nile believed her. Nile nodded and a quiet, kind, confident smile broke across Andy’s face. She reached up to cup Nile’s neck for a moment, and then turned to go back inside, leaving the glass sliding door back into the hotel open. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Watching her leave, Nile reached towards her necklace and twisted the cross in her fingers. She glanced towards the ocean; the sky was blue and bright. Straightening her back, she took a breath and reveled in how the sea-salt stung the back of her throat. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The sun will keep rising. The sun will rise every morning and set every night; the light will die in the sky just for it to be reborn the next morning. That wouldn’t change. Dropping the cross back to hang around her neck, Nile followed Andy inside.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have a few other fics from ages ago if you are interested in checking that out! For more recent stuff (and more The Old Guard content), follow me on Tumblr @heckingturtles!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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